The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1887-11-06
HOOKED BY A MOUNTAIN LION.
Having Gsrted Himssif With Poissned Deer
the Beas Winked Upsn hts Pursuers.

Having Gsrted Himssif with Poissned Deer,
the BeaS winked Upsn hts Pursuers.
In the Central Park menagerie Is a mag
nincent specimen OF the cougar. or mountain
lion. The other afternoon two gentlemen
stood by ths cage watching the graceful animal
as It rsstlpssly moved from one end Of the
cage to the other with rythmsticsl precision.
Last win,er." said one. II was ,hooting In
the sierts Tara Nate Mountains In Mexico.
where. from the signs and tracks In the sand
bottomsd cations. these animals were very
abundant At night one would sit upon the
mesa Adore our camp and give out hymns for
the coyot.s to sing 1t was an unesrthly yell
that mad tho goosenesh como on the top Of
your heal. and led you to oven wish to be back
In tho lsnd OF hand organs. My guide. Jack
up in hiablankets and say: GO 1t when you
can. for We are going to do you up
For days We looked for the home Of the lion.
and. although We could see his footprints,
which appeared like very big tours Of clubs. he
did SO much rock walking that II was impos-
sible to rack him to his cave. One day we met
Q Mexian smuggling outfit. and the Captain
told us hat In o canon several miles from our
camp there was Q hermit lion, whom he never
failed D get glimpse Of when taking the trail
that wy For years back he had missed seeing
him, bit Of late he had noticed that the lion
WAS lane, probably from having run q cactus
point into his foot, or from jumping too
much out Of the way Of earthquakes. The
smugsler described SO accurately where the
lion lung out that we went over there the next
you ,yer sI saw. Il" The Bottom was jungle q
on our hands and Knees In many places. The
sides were volcanic rock. Jagged and broken
with the lion. who was sitting in the mouth OF
his ,ave trying to stare US out OF countenance;
H. sne Then
chsnoe to shoot. Hall a minute later We saw
sen g hmsn sR tn sds ns and
locked compacently down at US He was pro-
voklnYly out Of shot. and he knew it as well as
Then began one Of the most scientific hunts
S,tii dark. he was, mover over 1000 yards
ss s, "a ssSs aS Issss TsT:
niles we went In q bee line from camp. and 1t
took US until next morning to get back. We
sn sss to put 'Rs
killed . white.taile deor took bis panneh' ard
tailed 1t In a CIRCLE around the canon The
feet out from the trunk. Then we cut up the
dsers liver into thirteen baits, for luck, and
dosed each with strychnine. We also rubbed
tie poison into the paunch. which We left at
the bottom OF the tree.
:" We smiled as we walked back to camp, and
jack told me OF an Apache Indian over at
hontezzpma mining camp who would tan tho
lions hide with deer's brains for 81; Kent
whom would give It to. or II would keen Il
myself. About sunrise We struck the lions
expected to pick up the lion every step. But
We didn't He had been there. though. He
away with some Of the paunch, climbed up the
tree: stretched himself out. and eaten hunks
We spent the day In, looking Tor the dead
lion. but could not find him. When We turned
ding down on top Of the divide winking al us.
At Fl Paso told . MERCHANT this story. and
showed him what was left Of TIP poison, He
the smugklers was only . kind Of -four. OF
which barrelfui would not tsze chicken.
and that he ought to know. for 10 put up the
stun himself"